Grapes

Grape (Vitis vinifera) is grown from temperate to warm regions; however, hot and dry climate is ideal. Indian grapes come in varied characteristics namely coloured, white, seeded, unseeded, large and small berries. Indian grapes are successfully grown at and above 250 mean sea level.

Modern packhouse facility with automatic forced air system for precooling is available in all the commercial production areas. Traceability system is maintained for the product tracking. Extensive Residue Monitoring plan for monitoring the pesticide residues in grapes is implemented for consumer safety.

Varieties:

More than 20 varieties are under cultivation in India. However, only a dozen are commercially grown. They can be grouped under following 4 categories based on colour and seeds.

Currently, Thompson Seedless is the ruling grape variety occupying 55% of the area with its clones. Bangalore Blue occupies approximately 15% of the total area while Anab-e-Shahi and Dilkhush (15%), Sharad Seedless (5%), Perlette (5%) and Gulabi and Bhokri together (5%).

Areas of Cultivation :

Major grape-growing states are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and the north-western region covering Punjab, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. Maharashtra ranks first in terms of production accounting for more than 82.56% of total production and highest productivity in the country.

India Facts and Figures :

Grape is one of the important fruit covering an area of 116 thousand hectares occupying 1.70% of the total area. The country is also a major exporter of fresh Grapes to the world. The country has exported 1,56,218.34 MT of Grapes to the world for the worth of Rs. 1,551.32 crores during the year 2015-16.